Here Are The Toxic Sites In Washington County That Could Flood

WASHINGTON COUNTY, MN — Minnesota's climate is changing, and that means more floods in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. In the last 50 years, yearly precipitation in most of the Midwest has increased by 5 to 10 percent. But rainfall during the four wettest days of the year has increased about 35 percent.

As a warming climate brings increased risk of flooding, Americans in every state face dangerous possibilities of exposure to a toxic stew of chemicals, according to an analysis of federal data by The New York Times. By the newspaper’s count, 2,500 toxic chemical sites are located in flood-prone areas and of those, 1,400 located in areas with a high risk of flooding.

The sites are among more 21,600 nationwide that release toxic chemicals into the air, water or land, according to a database kept by the Environmental Protection Agency. In Washington County, there are 10 such sites.

Last year’s hurricanes offered a glimpse of the danger of the release of potentially cancer-causing chemicals, especially in Houston, Texas, home to a concentration of chemical and plastics plants, oil and gas refineries, and EPA Superfund sites. More than 100 flood-prone toxic waste sites are located in Houston,The Times found.

Chemical spills during Hurricane Harvey were multiple, including three at one of Houston’s dirtiest Superfund sites, a former petroleum industry waste processing plant. Power failures and an explosion at the Arkema chemical plant northwest of Houston forced plant evacuations in a 1.5-mile radius and created a toxic plume of dangerous chemicals. Superfund sites also dotted the path of Hurricane Irma.

To keep track of where threats are present, the EPA maintains an inventory of toxic releases, and New York Times reporters Hiroko Tabuchi, Nadja Popovich, Blacki Migliozzi and Andrew W. Lehren analyzed the numbers to pinpoint the most-at-risk chemical sites.

There are more than 21,600 sites across the United States in the toxics release inventory. In general, chemicals covered by the program are those that cause cancer and other chronic health problems or pose significant environmental threats.

Industries that handle toxic waste aren’t required by federal law to take extra precautions during flooding, and state and local regulations requiring action plans are particularly nonexistent. President Trump rolled back Obama-era rules that would have required projects receiving federal assistance to plan for flooding resulting from rising sea levels.

» Read the full story on The New York Times.

Photo: In this Sept. 13, 2017, photo, workers are shown at San Jacinto River Waste Pits in Channelview, Texas. The Environmental Protection Agency said an unknown amount of a dangerous chemical linked to birth defects and cancer may have washed downriver from a Houston-area Superfund site during the flooding from Hurricane Harvey. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)